We All Fall Down
by Wetstar
Summary: The rebellion hit all of Panem hard, and hit each district and the Capitol in very different ways. Follow the lives of some of Panem's citizens and see how.


**District Six**

I push my dark hair out of my eyes and try to stop trembling. _It's just for one night, _I remind myself, gripping the edge of the sink tightly. _Just to see if it stops the nightmares. _

When I glance back up at the mirror, Linus is there. He's sitting on the edge of the tub, watching me get ready like he always did when we were at the orphanage. Nothing's changed in the past nineteen years. Guess people really do stay the same after they die.

"Are you going to try to talk me out of it?" I ask. I've been used to the hallucinations for a while.

He shrugs. "It's up to you. I think it's moronic, but hey! I'm just your dead twelve year old best friend!"

"I'm surprised it's you, actually," I admit. "I was expecting Fletch."

"Who would you rather have tell you you're stupid; your sister or the kid you had a crush on?"

I can see my neck turn red in the mirror. "You, obviously. You tend not to put your fist in my head."

Linus smirks. "Exactly."

"You're really not trying to talk me out of it then?"

He shrugs. "It's stupid in my opinion, but it's your body."

"It's moronic, that's what it is! The guy's nearly killed him multiple times, the last thing he should be doing is having sex with him!" Fletch floats into the room, her usually cheerful voice angry.

I sigh. "Fletch, it's just sex. I'm an adult, I can make my own decisions."

"You're still my baby brother, Arrow. I'm worried about you. This guy's trouble."

"He's a revolutionary." I explain as I tug my sleeves down over the scars.

"So he says. Has he ever actually done anything? The only thing close to a revolution is when he throws you against a wall and gives you a concussion, and that's only close to a revolution because both have violence. And it seems that does more damage to you than good."

"Better than trying to set me on fire..." I mutter under my breath, and instantly feel guilty. I feel even worse when Fletch turns around and floats out again, obviously upset.

That's how Fletch died. Our mother was having a bit of a mental breakdown after discovering that our father had cheated on her- once, while he was drunk, as if that makes anything better. Anyways, Mom was screaming and throwing lit matches at Dad, and our house went up in flames pretty quickly. I was the only one who got out. Mom and Dad, as well as Fletch and my brother Nock, all died. Fletch was sixteen. Nock was eleven. I was nine.

I'm thirty-two now, and going through a pretty rough time, as you can probably tell. On top of my entire family dying and leaving me with survivor's guilt, Linus was reaped when I was thirteen. He fell to his death off a cliff. It's been all downhill from there.

Right now it's the night of the interviews for the Seventy-fifth Games. Which is always a rough time for me. So I'm on my way over to Mackenzie's house. Which Fletch is pissed about.

For good reason too. He _has _hurt me. So Fletch can't understand why I would possibly want to stay with him. But hey.

Love makes us do crazy things.

**District Ten**

"Jethro! Jethro Bates, wake up right now or I swear I will ensure that you're suspended for life!" Ridgeway's high-pitched voice breaks through my peaceful dreams and I sleepily lift my head from behind my history book.

"If you want me to wake up, maybe you should try threatening me with something I _don't_ want," I say with a yawn. Al covers his laughter up with a cough beside me. I give him a tired smile.

Ridgeway continues to squeal at me. "And maybe _you _should focus a little harder on your studies! Paige Kild's decision to torture her final victim could be very important in the shaping of our majestic country for all you know!"

"Fucking Paige Kild..." I mutter under my breath. She's probably one of the dumbest tributes ever, and considering her Games were nineteen years ago, I don't think they've really shaped our "majestic" country in any way. And he wasn't her final victim. The kid lasted longer than her. God, don't teachers know _anything _anymore?

Thankfully the bell rings and we're released from one of the many prisons we get trapped in. God, between school, the orphanage, work, and our "majestic" country, I don't think I ever feel free. Except for maybe walking home with the Flyers.

The Flyers are a family of four boys who live at the orphanage with me; Sig, Al, Carl, and Ivan. Their parents were psychologists before they died, and they named them after some famous ones. Sigmund(or Sig as we call him) is the oldest at seventeen, followed by Alfred or Al at fifteen-the same age as me, by the way- and then Carl at thirteen and Ivan at ten.

Carl and Ivan are already waiting at the front gate when Al and I walk out the front door.

"Sig's going to catch up with us," Carl says. "He had to stay behind to get extra help for math."

We start walking back towards the orphanage, passing by the fields and fields of animals that Ten has. We pass by a fence with a sign that reads **CAPITOL PROPRIETY, AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY **and I hop onto it. Ivan bites his lip. "You're not allowed up there, Jeth..."

I grin down at him. "No Peacekeepers around! Besides, it's not like I'm doing anything _seriously _bad..."

"But..."

Carl nudges Ivan. "Relax! It'll be fine! He's right, it's not anything seriously bad!"

I start to walk down the fence, following it all the way back to the orphanage. Ivan worries to whole way. Carl continues to tell him to relax. Al laughs and tells me "Our parents would've said you're single-minded to the point of recklessness! That or you're trying to get yourself killed!" I grin down at him.

When we get back to the orphanage, Thorsen's there waiting for us. Or, more specifically, me. Shit, Ridgeway must've called her already... Al herds Carl and Ivan up the stairs, giving me a _good luck, you'll need it _look.

Thorsen shoves me into another room and leaves me there while she goes off to get the belt. I swallow hard and try to stay relaxed. _It doesn't hurt much, it doesn't hurt much... _I try to remind myself.

**District Five**

So let's get one thing straight: I'm a thief, but I'm a thief for good reasons.

I'm an orphan. And here in District Five, orphans aren't very well treated.

Let's start with the food. Every week we're supposed to get and order of food, just enough for all of us. Normally we get about half that. The people who bring it keep the other half for their families. Not that I can blame them. The people here are starving. But ever since the riots started, there's been less food in the district, which means almost no food for us orphans, if we get any at all. Most of the time, they've kept all the food for their families. So that leaves us to starve.

Or at least it did, until Alec decided to start stealing. Simon and Eadric found out somehow and started as well. They told us they were just working extra shifts, and that was where they were getting the money for extra food. Which they did as well, but that money alone wasn't enough to feed all of us. We didn't find out that they were actually stealing until Simon got whipped for it.

That's when the twins and I started stealing. We've all been whipped at least once- it's hard not to be caught, what with the Peacekeepers keeping such a close eye on everyone- but it keeps us alive.

That's what brings us here; to me hiding in an alleyway, waiting for a good time to slip out into the marketplace sand steal a loaf of bread off the table that the Hurns have set up outside their bakery. I'm thankful for the good weather- it's so much easier to steal when everything's outside.

I slip out of the alleyway and start walking towards the bakery. _It'll be easy, _I remind myself,_ just grab the loaf and the wax paper from beside the cash and get out of here._

Grabbing the loaf is easy. Getting the wax paper is a little harder. I have to pretend to be examining the different breads until one of the actual customers asks a question. Then I quietly slip over to the cash and grab one of the pieces of wax paper and wrap the loaf up in it. There. Now it looks like I bought it.

I start to walk away, but I don't get very far before a hand grabs my shoulder. I take a deep breath and turn around. Peacekeeper. Shit.

"Is there a problem sir?" I give him my sweetest smile, hoping it'll make me seem innocent.

His face doesn't change from its solemn mask. "You didn't pay for that."

I do my best shocked face and voice. "What?! Of course I did!"

He grabs my arm roughly. "I watched you. You didn't."

"Let go of me! I didn't do anything wrong!" By this point everyone in the square's watching the Peacekeeper rough handle the 'innocent' girl.

He doesn't listen to me though, and no one speaks up in my defense as I'm dragged towards the whipping post that's been set up in the center of the square. They tie my wrists above my head- so tightly that I can feel the blood flow in my hands stop instantly- and cut away the back of my shirt.

"Daphne!" AJ's cry of horror echoes through the square and I glance around, trying to spot the thirteen year old among the masses. I finally spot him trying to work his way to the front, the twins beside him trying to stop him.

"Stay back!" I yell at him. I don't want them to get in trouble as well.

The sudden crack of the whip against my back makes me cry out. I grit my teeth in preparation for the next one, determined not to cry out again.

The second one's not so bad, since I'm prepared for it, but it still hurts like crazy. I can hear the Peacekeeper muttering numbers under his breath as he whips me again and again. After twenty, just as I'm beginning to feel like it'll never end, he stops and cuts the rope off my wrists, cutting my arm slightly as well. Probably on purpose.

He kicks me away from him and I tumble across the ground, landing on my back and staring up at the sky, trying to stop the world from spinning so quickly. The twins' faces come into view and I can feel their hands grabbing my arms to lift me to my feet. They sling my arms around their shoulders and help me start walking back towards the orphanage.

"We'll get you fixed up Daph," Chris says.

Rupert nods. "It'll be easy, you know that."

I give them a weak nod. "I know. Sorry about the bread."

I can feel their shoulders shrug in unison. "No big deal."

AJ's walking backwards in front of us, looking worried. I try to give him a reassuring smile. "I'm fine AJ, really."

He still looks worried, so Rupert says "Why don't you run ahead and tell Alec what happened?"

AJ nods and runs off, the three of us following more slowly, the rest of District Five staying as far away from us as possible.

**Capitol**

"Jesse... Jesse..." The soft whisper of my best friend wakes me up. Averi's green eyes dance with laughter.

I groan. "What did you do?"

She tilts her head to the side, her pink braid following the motion. With a voice so full of innocence it would put a baby to shame, she says "What makes you think I did something? Specifically something bad?"

"Because you've always done something," I point out.

She laughs and climbs off my stomach, letting me sit up. "But you're really going to like it this time!"

"Yeah? What is it?"

She pulls two slips of paper out of her pocket. "Tickets to tonight's interview," She says with a proud smirk.

"Whoa, are you serious?!" I sit up and swing my legs over the side of my bed, reaching for the tickets. Tickets for any Hunger Games interviews are hard to get, but the Quarter Quell ones should be nearly impossible. But sure enough, there it is, in the fancy script that the Capitol so loves: _**CAESAR FLICKERMAN PRESENTS YOUR TRIBUTES OF THE 75TH ANNUAL HUNGER GAMES AND THIRD QUARTER QUELL. **_

Averi nods proudly. "And they're good seats too!"

I grin up at her. "We're going to get to see them!" The victors whose Games we've seen on reruns, the ones we got to see while they were happening live... They'll be there. They'll actually be there.

"_And _we'll get to see Caesar _live!_ Just imagine it! Soon those tickets will say _**Averi Wilkins**_instead of _**Caesar Flickerman**_!"Wilkins isn't her parents' last name of course. It's the name she was given when she came to the orphanage. No one knows who her parents are or were.

"And you won't forget about your lowly best friend?" I tease.

"Of course not! The tickets will have a little spot in the corner that'll say _**With cleanup done by Jesse Guillory**_!" she teases back. Unlike her, Guillory really is my parents' last name. My dad, Dimitri Guillory, was the Head Gamemaker from the 53rd Games to the 57th. He died suddenly after the 57th, and my mom couldn't stand having me around to remind her of him constantly. Everyone says I look just like him. She left me at the orphanage, and hung herself a few days later.

So I won't be doing cleanup when I'm older. After these Games, I'm going into Gamemaker training. It's what I've been destined for since birth. The children of Gamemakers always become the new Gamemakers. It's hard to become one if you aren't related to one. That's just how things work in the Capitol.

* * *

"Averi! Keep your voice down!" I hiss at her. She won't stop giggling as we rush down the fire escape. Her pink hair's loose now, with only one small clip in it and it billows behind her as we run.

"Sorry! But this is just so exciting!" she says with another giggle. A sudden clank of something landing on the fire escape makes me jump. Averi giggles again. "It's just a cat! Hi kitty! Jesse's afraid of you, but I'm not!"

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. "I am _not _afraid of it! It just startled me, that's all!"

Averi laughs and gives the cat a few quick strokes before running down the rest of the fire escape. The cat hisses at me as I pass by it and I hiss back. I can hear Ave's laughter from the bottom of the steps and I smile slightly, taking the last few two at a time.

We take the bus there, and Averi's practically bouncing up and down with excitement. This has been a dream of hers ever since she discovered that she wanted to be the next Caesar Flickerman.

And man, does it live up to her expectations.

Cashmere's up first, and she talks about how she can't stop thinking whenever she thinks about the Capitol's suffering from losing them. Gloss follows her and talks about how the kindness that the Capitol always showed them. Beetee questions the legality of the Quell, and gets Averi confused, though I'm able to follow well enough. Finnick recites a poem to his one true love, and Averi has her _I'm about to burst from cute _look on. Johanna asks if something can't be done about it. Seeder dares to question President Snow himself, and his power surrounding the Quell. Chaff takes an even riskier step by insisting that the president could change the Quell if he wanted to but that he just doesn't care enough to.

"They're going to get killed..." Averi whispers to me.

"They're going into the Games, what do you expect?" I whisper back.

"I know, but..." she gasps suddenly, and I look back to the stage to see why. Whoa.

She's in her wedding dress. Katniss Everdeen is in her wedding dress. Who does that? Who makes someone wear something that should be so happy on a night that's so sad?

Caesar asks her if there's anything she would like to say. "Only that I'm so sorry you won't get to be at my wedding... but I'm glad you at least get to see me in my dress. Isn't it just... the most beautiful thing?" She starts to spin slowly and her dress catches fire, just like last year. As the fire dies out and she raises her arms, Averi gasps.

She's a mockingjay. They turned her into the bird from her pin.

**District Eight**

Mandatory viewing. How exciting. Here in District Eight, that means gathering in the square to watch on the giant screens. One thing I always find interesting is watching everyone merge into little groups to watch. Of course, I'm on my own since everyone I care about is either dead or busy with a family.

Theo's dead. He was decapitated during the 55th Games. Mom's dead. She starved to death maybe a year before Theo died. Paolina's alive. But she's got kids, and I haven't really seen her for almost two years. A glance maybe, but that's it.

As you can tell, I don't care about very many people. Three people. Two of whom were family, one of whom I somehow managed to fall in love with. I still don't know how he did it.

Anyways, I'm alone in the crowds. Beside me is a group of young men and women who are muttering angrily to each other and periodically glaring at the Peacekeepers who patrol the edge of the crowd. In front of me are three kids, two boys and a girl. The boys look about ten, the girl around thirteen. I recognize the girl and one of the boys as Leigh and Sebastion Sills, Eva Williams and Owen Sills' kids. Theo's niece and nephew that he never got to meet. The other boy looks extremely familiar with black hair and mud-coloured eyes, but I can't put a name to the face. The three of them whisper excitedly to each other, though I doubt it's because of the interviews. No one gets excited for the interviews in Eight.

Leigh turns around and grins up at me. "Hey! You were over at our house yesterday, right? Mario, right?"

I nod. "Leigh and Sebastion, right? And...?"

"Ernesto. He doesn't talk much to strangers, sorry," Sebastion says.

"It's okay."

The screens light up with the Capitol's seal and the three kids turn back around.

The interviews this year are definitely more rebellious than any other year. With every victor speaking up against the Capitol, the group beside me starts muttering louder and angrier. And when Katniss Everdeen gets turned into a bird, one of the women crouches down and picks up a rock, aiming it towards one of the Peacekeepers.

I grab her wrist. "Don't. There's kids here."

She glances over at the Sills and Ernesto and slowly lowers her arm.

But the interviews aren't over yet. As soon as the victors join hands, the rock goes flying out of the woman's hand and hits the Peacekeeper square in the center of her face.

It's like the square exploded with the impact of rock on face. Everyone's running around, some to simply get away before they get killed, others to attack the Peacekeepers. I struggle to reach the three kids, even though they were in front of me only seconds ago. I grab Leigh's arm and pull her closer to me. "Where are the others?" I have to yell for her to be able to hear me.

Sebastion appears beside his sister, hand clutching Ernesto's tightly. "What's happening?!"

"It's another uprising! I'm getting you out of here, come on!"

Leigh grabs Sebastion's hand and the four of us begin working our way through the horde of bodies. Sudden gunfire makes me pull them down, closer to the ground. "Stay low!"

A cry of pain from Ernesto makes me duck back towards him. "What's wrong?"

He's holding onto his leg with one hand, still trying to limp along, despite the blood rushing freely past his fingers. For a ten year old, the kid's awfully brave. I sling his arm around my shoulder. Leigh puts the other one around her shoulders and the two of us help him along, Sebastion rushing ahead of us.

We're almost out of the crowds when Leigh suddenly falls over, limp. "Leigh!" Sebastion spins around at my shout. I shove Ernesto at him. "Get out of here!" I kneel beside Leigh and feel for a pulse. Nothing.

I look up at Sebastion, who looks absolutely terrified. To my horror, I can see Eva approaching behind him. "Eva..." My whisper's lost in the surrounding shouts.

She kneels down beside me, staring at Leigh in shock. "Is she..."

I shake my head. "I'm so sorry Eva..."

She nods, clearly blinking back tears. "It's okay. Thanks for trying."

She scoops up her daughter and walks over to her son. "Sebastion, we have to go sweetie."

He nods and holds onto her sleeve. The two of them disappear into the darkness.

I put Ernesto's arm back around my shoulders and help him out of the crowds and down one of the neighbouring streets back towards home. I can get him fixed up there, and then return him home to his family in the morning. Easy.

As long as he stays conscious, that is. He's losing blood quickly, and will probably pass out soon. Which he does, at which point I scoop him up and carry him the rest of the way.


End file.
